William Joseph Hill (William Joseph Hill Jr.)

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Biography

North Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA

William Joseph Hill Jr. was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, named after his father, a U.S. Navy Officer. Raised in Chula Vista, Huntington Beach, San Diego, and Hawaii's Pearl Harbor, the oldest of five children, William began acting at a very young age. His first public performance was at age 4, giving a monologue rendition of "Little Jack Horner" (with a twist ending) to an older playmate's kindergarten class.

In third grade, he achieved schoolyard critical acclaim (as well as his first experience with typecasting) with a class production of "Three Billy Goats Gruff". Read more... the evil Troll. He buried himself into the role so much that his teacher dubbed him "The Troll" for the remainder of the year. That year, Billy also first saw the movie Star Wars (1977), which was to have a major influence on his chosen career in film.

Sixth grade saw Bill perform in "HMS Pinafore", as both the narrator and in the chorus. He was chosen by the director because of his ability to do a convincing British accent. Bill claims he learned how to do accents from his father, who would entertain him with them when he was very young. When Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) came out, Bill began to realize that he wanted a career in movies. He formed his first production company, "Matterhorn Productions", for the sole purpose of making a stop-motion version of "Empire" with his Star Wars toys. It proved to be too daunting a project to complete, but it was his first foray into producing.

In Hawaii, his family was stationed on historic Ford Island, where he began his over 20-year career in the martial arts while attending Damien Memorial High School. William earned his 2nd degree black belt in Okinawan Kenpo Karate Kobudo, from Sensei Joseph Bunch of Hawaii Okinawa Kenpo Karate-do Shudokan. During that time in Hawaii, he participated in tournaments, doing well in forms and weapons competition. As far as free sparring was concerned, William preferred to train in full-contact karate, rather than the traditional point fighting. At the Ford Island Gym, where he also held a part-time job, Bill often sparred with different friends, including those who were members of the Marines and Navy Seals. He claims it was a great education learning how to survive in the ring, and has definitely prepared him for the rigors of fight choreography. He continues to train in many different styles, including Chinese Kempo, Kung Fu and Shotokan Karate, a Japanese style very similar to Okinawan Kenpo. Bill teaches in the L.A. and Hollywood area.

While in high school and college, Bill finally realized his dream of making films by producing and starring in the homemade "Quest For a Thunderstick", "Law of the Ninja", Return of the Thundersticks" and many more short videos, following in the footsteps of Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi and other directors who began their careers making movies in their backyards.

He graduated from Chaminade University of Honolulu with his degree in Business Management, and a minor in writing. That year, William returned to his childhood home of San Diego with his family to begin his acting career. During his first few years in the professional arena, he cut his chops performing in student films (through SDSU and UCSD), and theater productions. Bill was also lucky to land some work on the TV series Renegade (1992). It was in San Diego where he was cast in the indie film Ozark Savage (1999), directed by Matt Steinauer (and recently released on DVD, available at BlockBuster Video).

After moving to Hollywood, William began landing roles in independent and short films, television shows and theater. In 1999, he met his actress wife, Pamela Hill, while a member of the former Live Actors' Society. Pamela and William were married in 2002, in Pamela's home town of Cincinnati Ohio. The two of them often work together, having both appeared on television in Penn & Teller's acclaimed Showtime series, Discovery Health's "Berman & Berman" show, as well as the stage plays "Water", "Water Everywhere" and the sketch comedy show "Berubians Most Wanted".

William and Pamela currently head their own production company "Four Scorpio Productions", where they produce multimedia and web-based entertainment content and are in development with several feature films in the action genre.